Curtains are required in many locations to shade an area from sun, to provide security by isolating a room so that an intruder cannot see contents or the presence or absence of occupants or for privacy as between classes of seats in a plane or to enclose a hospital bed or a shower opening. Traverse drapes provide convenience since the drapes can easily be opened or closed by means of sliding the drapes to a gathered condition towards the middle or ends of a drapery rod.
The advent of recreational vehicles such as boats, planes, motor homes with limited space has resulted in more compact systems using tracks containing glides. Though such systems are less bulky, they still require excessive space when opened and can block a part of the opening. Even if the glides are tightly gathered, pleated drapes tend to fan out at the bottom. In the closed position, the pleats are bulky since the pleats are curved and space the drape from the wall.
Draperies used in hospitals and in commercial applications such as airplanes need to be washed more often than household drapes. Any metal parts attached to the drapes can either rust or cause tearing of the drapes during agitation during the cleaning. Removal and reinstallation of draperies which utilize hangar pins at each pleat is very labor intensive and expensive.
Drapes that utilize glides also act as a limit on compactness since the top of the gathered drapes has a length equal to the sum of the width of the top member of the glides. Furthermore, the glides can tilt and bind in the track or interlock with each other during traverse of the draperies interfering with smooth opening or closing of the drapery system.